As service delivery shifts to the cloud, new data centers of all sizes, from hyperscale to smaller edge data centers that bring services closer to users and reduce latency, are being built. Meanwhile, physical and logical resources are being added and removed from existing data centers as they continue to evolve. At the same time, communication service providers (CSPs) are adopting data center principles as mobile networks evolve to 5G and fixed networks evolve to support ever faster broadband speeds.

This changing landscape requires the design of new facilities and constant redesign of existing facilities, which can be both costly and time consuming. Keeping track of a constantly evolving set of assets is further complicated when inventory data is stored in disparate, and often out-of-date, repositories. This typically results in underutilized assets, increased power consumption, slow trouble ticket resolution, inefficient inventory management, miscommunication between teams, and unnecessary service disruption. To address these challenges, Coriant has partnered with nuPSYS, an innovative Silicon Valley-based company that provides its powerful nuVIZ 3D visualization tools including nuVIZ-Dsgn for design and nuVIZ-Ops for operations.

Key nuVIZ Functions

nuVIZ-Dsgn provides designers, architects, and planners with a powerful tool for tasks including design, capacity planning, and migration planning, enabling savings of up to 80% in terms of both time and cost. Floors, racks, shelters, and towers can be designed leveraging a simple drag and drop interface and intuitive 2D/3D visualizations. A topology function shows the physical, logical, and virtual layers, both within a facility and between facilities. The inter-facility topology leverages a geo-location feature that includes the ability to view assets in a geographical map, while a global dashboard provides a single view of assets across sites. A cable management feature provides the ability to add, edit, and delete structured cabling connections. The 3D view enables users to quickly pinpoint the exact floor location and rack slots of each device with options to show the device as a box with a name and an optional color, or with a photo representative image.

nuVIZ-Dsgn also calculates the sum of the maximum powers for each of the devices in the rack and compares this to a maximum power that can be supported by that rack. The percentage power utilization of each rack can be shown in a heat map based on these calculations. The heat dissipation in BTU/hour is also calculated. A transparent mode in the 3D view provides a simple way to visualize how full the racks are and to identify available space. These abilities enable the quick identification of suitable locations for new devices while minimizing the risk of installation errors.

nuVIZ-Ops provides operations, maintenance, and audit staff with a real-time consolidated view of the network and compute assets including a calendar of historical changes. It leverages real-time auto-discovery from the network management systems and directly from network elements such as routers. Racks, towers, devices, cables, and virtual machines can be visualized in a 3D model, as can the physical and logical network topologies. A global dashboard provides a single searchable database of assets across sites enabling nuVIZ-Ops to provide an accurate and real-time inventory, thereby reducing operational costs by 67%. These features enable assets to be optimally utilized thus saving substantial CapEx, minimizing errors resulting from miscommunication between teams, and greatly simplifying asset auditing tasks.

nuVIZ-Ops also maximizes service availability with an alarm management function that includes both the ability to highlight the impacted entities in the 3D view and a trouble ticket function. Finally, nuVIZ-Ops can incorporate real-time data from network elements and IoT sensors for information such as power consumption, temperature, noise, and motion. This data can be displayed in 3D heat maps enabling potential problems to be identified and rectified before impacting service quality.